


Coffee Should Not Be Bitter

by irinokat



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Coffee, Conversations, Ficlet, Gen, Unrequited Love, feelings are hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 03:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2372912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irinokat/pseuds/irinokat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tendo makes Newt take a break for his own sanity. It doesn't quite go as smoothly as he hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee Should Not Be Bitter

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a ficlet I had swimming around in my head. Hope you find it worth reading, I ended up enjoying writing it more than I thought I would, anyways.

When Tendo walks into the lab, Hermann and Newt are on opposite sides of the lab, as far from each other as they can manage to get in the somewhat cramped space. Hermann’s staring at the computer with a murderous gleam in his eye and his fingers hit the keys so hard that his typing sounds like the start of a bad thunderstorm. Newt has some printouts clenched in his fist and the way he’s holding that pen, he’s gonna end up with some unplanned temporary tattoos. Tendo sighs and walks over to Newt, gently tugging the pen out of his hand. “Not now,” Newt mumbles, barely looking up from the paper.

Tendo waits for a few moments; it’s rare that Newt’s in a mood like this, and Tendo got a pretty bad tongue lashing the one time he broke Newt’s concentration. Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long for Newt to set the papers down, growling something under his breath about funding. “I think you need your coffee break now,” Tendo says.

“Need to keep working,” Newt says, scrubbing his hand over his face.

“One little break won’t –” Tendo nearly says _kill anyone_ , then _be the end of the world_ , and then he mentally slaps himself and says, “You need to loosen up.” English’s hyperbole can be expressive, but incredibly unfortunate these days, especially with the news of the PPDC’s loss of UN support.

They end up on the roof, as they often do, holding steaming mugs of Tendo’s Peruano coffee stash, watching dark clouds roll by and techs moving supplies into the elevators as they lean against the railings. Newt’s not really into it today, barely sipping his sweetened coffee, using it more for warmth than anything. Tendo gives a loud sigh just to break the silence. It doesn’t seem to help. “You guys really get into it today?”

“He won’t fucking listen,” Newt says. The veins and bones in his hands stick out as he tightens his grip on his mug. “I don’t know why I’m even surprised anymore, he always shoots me down the second I open my stupid fucking mouth.”

“Did you try…?” Tendo starts to ask, not quite sure he wants to know if Newt’s been rejected on a nonplatonic level. He’s gotten so wrapped up in Newt’s love life that the secondhand pain might be a bit much for him, too.

“Scientifically speaking,” Newt clarifies. He takes a sip and gives a bitter, humorless laugh. “I’m not even gonna try any other approach.”

“Ever?”

Newt lets out a long breath through his teeth. “Not now, anyways. Not worth it.”

“You never know.” Actually, Tendo does now. He’s never seen two more lovesick people. Or oblivious. Sometimes he wants to knock their heads together and shout, “Now kiss, dammit!” But he’s also become a strong believer in non-interference.

“I dunno.” Newt takes another sip, longer this time, almost as if he were dragging at a cigarette. “It just doesn’t feel… as important anymore.”

Tendo stares at Newt. The past five years have been nothing but Hermann Hermann HERMANN in some form or another. This is not a change Tendo was ever expecting. And considering how beaten down Newt looks, he doesn’t think he likes it. “Love’s always gonna be important.”

“When we’re all gonna be dead in a few months?” Newt says quietly.

“Don’t say that,” Tendo admonishes, but his voice is even softer.

“I should probably get my meds upped,” Newt says. “I’m not sure they have a dose big enough to handle oh-god-we’re-all-gonna-die-and-I-mean-that-for-fucking-real-for-once.”

Tendo falls silent. He’s never quite sure how to handle it when Newt gets this way. One time Newt had a freak-out on him, years ago, and when Tendo’d tried to tell him his fears were irrational, Newt had just screamed, “I FUCKING KNOW THAT!” over and over until he’d started to hyperventilate. He at least trusts Tendo enough again to drop his guard about it again, but Tendo still doesn’t know what to do other than make sure he’s breathing alright.

Newt blows the tiny puffs of steam still curling out of his mug away. Tendo’s own coffee is starting to chill. He raises the mug to his mouth, but the taste just doesn’t feel quite right at the moment. They both fall silent.

“Now might be the best time, if it is the end of the world,” Tendo eventually says. He tries to sound jokey, but his tone’s just a little bit off. Everything’s starting to feel tainted now. “I mean, you don’t want to die an old man full of regrets, right?”

Newt snorts. It takes him a moment to answer, and when he does, his voice is small, broken. “If he said no, now, I’m not sure I’d live.”

Tendo slides an arm around Newt’s shoulder. What the hell does someone even say in situations like this? “It’s hard,” he says, as if Newt doesn’t already know that.

The wind picks up. They huddle together for a few moments, finishing the last few swallows before the lukewarm coffee goes completely cold.

It feels kind of shitty, just heading back to the elevator after all that. Tendo really had intended an actual break, something to perk Newt up and hopefully calm Hermann down for a bit, but he’s pretty sure he failed on that measure. It’s not a great feeling on top of everything else that’s been piling up the last several months – years, if he’s honest, but he pushes that thought away for now.

As Tendo steps out onto the LOCCENT floor, Newt says, “Hey, dude?” Tendo turns to see him holding his hand over the door, keeping it open. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I mean it. Thanks.” The way Newt’s saying it, it sounds heavy, a lot less casual than his usual flippancy.

“Uh, you’re welcome?”

Newt rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean, Elvis.”

“Oh, do I, grrroupie?” Tendo asks, smirking, making sure to roll his r as hard as possible.

“Fuck off,” Newt says with a grin as he lets the door go.

_Well, at least it was something_ , Tendo tells himself as he heads back to his station. Time to look over Mako’s diagnostics one more time, just in case something’s changed.


End file.
